Destined (War of the Covens 2)

The magik cleared his throat. “Actually, I was thinking we have been looking at this all wrong. This attack, this defense … is it not the perfect opportunity to test Caia? To see exactly what she is capable of?”

“If we start thinking that way, we will be just like them. That is not what we want for the future, Nikolai.”

“I know. But to win this war, we must know exactly what our weaponry and the enemy’s weaponry is capable of.”

He squeezed his eyes closed, feeling a metaphorical headache coming on.

“Very well. Send in a spy.”

15

Breaking Out

A trickle of sweat slid down her back, hidden from view. Thankfully, they were all aware she’d rushed to this meeting, and she hoped the lykans who could smell the sweat would mistake the cause of it. Caia held her breath as her gaze swept Marita and Vanne’s sitting room, battle plan central as it was now. She coached herself to remain outwardly calm, to keep her eyes from widening, her chest from heaving. Her face was a frozen mask.

Marita, Vanne, Marion, Lucien, Rose, Mordecai, Anders, Michael, and Phoebe stared at her in frustrated confusion, wondering why they had been called, probably guessing, but still annoyed by her silence. She was preparing her voice to come out steady, not high and squeaky like she felt inside.

Finally, she drew a breath and announced. “Pierre du Bois has escaped imprisonment. Petrovksy has no clue as to his whereabouts, but I’ve picked him up with a few of his rebels that have remained faithful. The attack against the MacLachlans is going ahead. Which means the attack is tomorrow evening in Remnant Forest.”

There were growls, hissing, and expletives as they received confirmation of the news that had been clear the moment they’d been called together. To them this would be the reason for Caia’s frozen anxiety; to the lykans, the reason they could smell the sweat that trickled under her shirt; to the vampyre, the reason he could detect the quickening of the pulse in her neck with his razor-sharp eyes.

They would be wrong.

Suddenly the double doors to Marita’s suite banged open, and in hurried a worried-looking magik. At the same moment, a feeling of triumph mixed with fear rushed through Caia when the trace she was holding on to disappeared from the Center.

The magik’s eyes swung wildly until they found Marita, who rounded the table with a look of outrage pasted on her face.

“How dare you barge in here uninvited!” she exclaimed, glancing behind the magik to find Noble pale and beseeching. “How did she get in here?”

He blanched and gestured to her. “This is Blair, the warden at the containment center. She said it was an emergency.”

Marita whipped toward the warden. “What is it?”

Blair gulped, smoothing her hair into its severe bun with shaking hands. “Madam, I’m afraid it has come to my attention that the prisoner has escaped.”

Marita jerked as if she’d been slapped. “Prisoner? You mean the girl? The Midnight?”

Blair nodded frantically.

“Have you searched the entire Center?”

“All of it, madam. There is no sign of her.”

Marita shook her head in disgust and then closed her eyes. “Caia?”

Her pulse sped up and she willed it to slow so the lykans present would not hear it. “Yes?”

“Can you feel the girl?”

She pretended to take a moment and then shook her head gravely. “No. She’s not at the Center.”

“Well, where is she?”

Okay, Cy, time to draw on your best acting skills. Channel Meryl Streep. “I-I don’t know. I-I can’t feel her,” she said, pretending to be panicked by the thought.

“What do you mean you can’t feel her? You told me you could find anyone in the trace?”

She pushed a few tears into the corner of her eyes, brushing her hair off her face, making her hands tremble. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why …”

“Argh!” Marita threw up her hands in exasperation. Then she took a calming breath, turning back into the ice queen as she menacingly glanced at Blair, her voice low and terrifying. “How on Gaia’s green earth did this happen?”

Forty-eight hours earlier

Avoiding Lucien was proving easy. Avoiding everyone else?

Not so much.

It was easy with Lucien because he was angry at her, and he had reason to be. She had promised she would stay with the pack rather than fight at the Center. On the other hand, if he wasn’t being such an idiot, he would realize she would never go back on her word and realize that something was up. At the moment, his misunderstanding was working more in her favor than if he was questioning her motives. She needed him well and truly out of this.

This being …

Her, trying to build up the courage to confront Vilhelm. The idea of encouraging someone to break a Midnight out of prison and out of the Center was insane.